Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band

Beefheart's debut album, originally released in 1967, was the most accessible and pop inflected of all the releases from his catalogue.
Still 'Safe As Milk' is a very strong and heavily blues-influenced work but it also hints on many of the features that would later become the trademarks of Captain Beefheart.

Nice fact is that not only did a 20-year old Ry Cooder play bass & guitar on 'Abba Zaba' and 'Grown So Ugly,' he also arranged the latter as well as 'Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do.'

Also, Cooder's role in the recording process was "to translate the Captain's wilder nations to the rest of the band and generally acts as musical director". With him as a supervisor the sessions proceeded more or less smoothly and 'Safe As Milk' was recorded within a month.